Diamonds in the rough
Holy Cross grad Jordi Amores was named Niagara College’s male athlete of the week. Photo by Ryan McCullough
The ball diamond and golf courses produced Brock University’s male and female athletes of the week.
Sharing male athlete of the week honours was baseball player Nick Spillman. The fourth-year sociology major helped lead the Brock baseball team to a 3-1 record last weekend, going 6-for-14 at the plate with two doubles, two home runs, five RBIs and three runs scored.
In games against McMaster, Brock won 10-0 (Alex Nolan, complete game six-hitter with 10 strikeouts; Spillman, 3-4 with two doubles and two RBIs; Noah Koffman, two-run home run) and 4-3 (Andrew Raponi, win; Jacob Renpenning, save; Spillman, homer; Josh Wray, double).
Against Waterloo, the Badgers lost 4-3 (starter Chase Porter, seven innings and one run allowed) and came out on top in a 13-10 slugfest (Matt Legg, 4-5 with five RBIs and a grand slam; Koffman, 4-5; Ryan Bench, save).
Also sharing male athlete of the week honours was Adam Graham. The fourth-year accounting major carded a tournament-best 75 to help lead the Brock men’s golf team to a gold medal at the Carleton Invitational. Also contributing to the gold medal were Matt Deven (78), St Catharines’ Jordan Lisko (78), Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Jonathon Snook (80) and Kaelenn Briggs (83).
At the Queen’s Invitational, Graham was fourth overall with a 72 to help the Badgers bring home the bronze.
Golfer Shannon Rowan was named Brock’s female athlete of the week.
The fourth-year kinesiology student helped the Brock women’s team capture bronze medals at the Carleton and Queen’s Invitationals. She was second as an individual in both events with rounds of 80 and 81.
Other Brock scores from Carleton were Alexis Batt (84), Patti Lucas (101) and Kourtney Davis (114).
BROCK FIELD LACROSSE
Brock’s men’s field lacrosse team pushed its winning streak to four games with a 21-2 romp over the University of Toronto and a 16-4 quadrupling of Guelph.
Sparking the offence versus Toronto were: Brandon Slade (1-7-8); Tyrus Rehanek (2-4-6); Connor Brown and Connor Aquanno, hat tricks; Connor Ham (2-1-3), Alex Pace (2-1-3) and Davis Neal (2-1-3)
Leading the attack versus Guelph were: Slade (1-5-6); Connor Brown, four goals; Curtis Woodward, hat trick; and, Connor Ham and Jake Nyhuus, two goals each.
Brock’s women’s field lacrosse team split its games, losing 10-6 to Laurier and doubling McMaster 12-6.
Hannah-Brie Scott, Olivia Langdon, Lindsey Highfield, Emma Mete, Brittany Schwende and Gillian Webster netted goals versus Laurier.
Top offensive performers against Mac were: Highfield (3-3-6); Mete, (3-0-3); Eryn Brown (2-1-3); and, Webster, Ally Brown, Shania Porter, and Marianna Andrade, single goals.
BROCK RUGBY
For the first time in school history, Brock’s women’s rugby team is 3-0 following a 98-10 plucking of the Laurier Golden Hawks.
“I am so proud of this team,” head coach Stefanie Pavlovich said. “They all worked hard in the off-season and bought into a culture change which we are seeing game in and game out.”
League-leading scorer Meagan Hart powered the attack with 23 points with one try and nine converts. In her first game back after capturing gold with Team Canada’s under-20 squad, Niamh Haughey recorded four tries. Amarije Barnes, Taylour Hurd, Sara Shaw and Katelyn Heyens all recorded two tries and singles were contributed by Lauren Wilks, Alexis Gigliotti and Victoria Liebig.
Brock’s men’s rugby squad matched the women, improving to 3-0 with a 19-17 shading of Laurier.
Stevie Commerford, Nabeel Imitate and Ryan Hickey scored tries for Brock and converts were contributed by Spencer Karn and Harry Hughes.
BROCK SOCCER
Sir Winston Churchill alumnus Marilena Spagnolo made nine saves to record her second shutout of the season as the Brock women’s soccer team recorded a 1-0 victory over McMaster.
Alex Crawford netted the game’s only goal.
OUA FOOTBALL
Welland native Johnny Augustine carried the ball 13 times for 86 yards, including TD runs of two and 21 yards, to lead the Guelph Gryphons to a 43-6 victory over Toronto in Ontario University Athletics football action. Augustine also caught a 33-yard pass.
Waterloo rolled to 4-0 in league play with a 45-43 triumph over Carleton.
For Waterloo, A.N. Myer product Tyrell Ford had a kick return for 40 yards, seven punt returns for 56 yards and three solo tackles. Tyrell is third in the league in all-purpose yards, averaging 151.5 per game.
Tyrell’s twin brother Tre missed the game with an injury. He remains third in the league in rushing yards (329) and is tied for sixth in touchdowns (3).
Holy Cross product Mike Domagala booted field goals of 24, 29 and 16 yards for Carleton. Domagala is second in the league in punting average (42.3 yards), sixth in field goal accuracy (70 per cent) and sixth in scoring (31 points).
Westland grad Wilson Birch had three catches for 49 yards, including a late TD catch of 20 yards, in the loss to Waterloo.
A.N. Myer product Jake Andrews contributed a 20-yard punt return in Western’s 59-7 salting of Windsor.
NIAGARA’S BEST
Niagara Falls native Jordi Amores was named Niagara College’s male athlete of the week after scoring twice in a pair of Niagara victories.
The Holy Cross alumnus played every minute of each game as the Knights (2-1) defeated formerly unbeaten Mohawk 2-0 and St. Clair 4-2.
“Jordi is a durable, steady, and skillful player who wants to run the show, and we are comfortable with him in that role,” Niagara head coach Frank DeChellis said, of the business major. “He has a quiet enthusiasm about him that slowly creeps its way into his teammates. He is one of two players that has played all 270 minutes for us this season.”
Marc-Andre Boucher also scored twice for Niagara and keeper Sam Robson recorded the shutout. Singles goals were scored by Welland native Alex Latham and Draven Stokes.
Niagara travels to Sarnia Saturday to take on the Lambton Lions.
Earning Niagara’s top female athlete award was Welland native Ashley Bruzzese. The rookie fullback for NIagara’s women’s soccer squad played well as the Knights (0-3) lost 2-1 decisions to the the Mohawk Mountaineers and St. Clair Saints.
“Ashley was outstanding for us playing the left fullback position,” Niagara head coach Rob Lalama said. “She played extremely well defensively, anticipated and broke up opposing attacks then created Niagara attacks on the transition.”
Bruzzese is an early childhood education student.
Fonthill native Michelle Maecker and Maddie Edwards tallied goals for the Knights.
Niagara is at Lambton Saturday.
